During March, area high school seniors will spend time shadowing bankers at F&M Bank as part of Bank Day, a statewide effort sponsored by the Virginia Bankers Association’s Education Foundation and the VBA Emerging Bank Leaders.

The purpose of the day is to expose students to the banking industry and provide an opportunity for the students to learn about banking, financial services and the role F&M Bank plays in its community.

On Thursday, a group of 10 students from area high schools learned about different jobs at F&M Bank in Timberville.

A few of the students were there because they want to go into some aspect of banking some day, while others said they wanted to learn about financial responsibility and familiarize themselves with how banks work.

Students learned about tellers, loan officers, brokers, collections agents, information technology and security, and outreach, and how all of those different areas are part of F&M Bank, which employs more than 200 people in the area.

“A lot of the students come in and don’t know a lot about what we do,” said Aaron Green, senior vice president and commercial relationship manager. “Banks all over the commonwealth are doing this. Our model is probably a little different. We want to expose them to all areas of the bank.”

Autumn Slifer, a senior at Broadway High School, said she wants to go into banking, most likely as an accountant.

“I know a lot of people in the banking field,” Slifer said.

Even so, there were a lot of areas of banking she was unfamiliar with before Thursday, especially the security and technology aspects of the industry.

“It was definitely worth the time,” said Slifer, who plans to attend Blue Ridge Community College in the fall.

Abby Olmstead, also a senior at Broadway High School, said she enjoyed getting to meet the people behind different banking jobs who you wouldn’t see on a daily basis.

“It’s really popular to vilify banking,” Olmstead said, “but they are real people.”